No choice but to raise property taxes if Springfield doesn’t help, Lightfoot says – Chicago Sun-Times

“It’ll be very difficult to avoid a property tax increase if we do not get help from Springfield. … There are limited tools that a mayor can use to generate substantial revenue. Property tax is really chief among them,” the mayor told the Sun-Times.
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Bob Out of Here
4 years ago

“No choice but to spend less if Springfield doesn’t help, Lightfoot says” should be what it reads.

world with end
4 years ago

Yeah, I thought that was an amazing statement, too: “no choice but to raise property taxes.” Of course, the obvious choice is to stop abusing the taxpayer and start restructuring salaries, pensions, and health care benefits. The fact that she already offered the CTU a lucrative package to settle means that the taxpayer already lost. The package on which the CTU will settle will be slightly better than the lucrative package on the table, which means the taxpayer will be screwed slightly more. At least there’ll be parallelism.

riverbender
4 years ago

WHat a novel idea; raise taxes on the people that voted the politicians that caused the mess in Chicago.

Jeffrey Carter
4 years ago

This Mayor Lightfoot sure is a destructive force to the Chicago Democratic Machine…..not. Feel like we got a bait and switch

Freddy
4 years ago

Chicago has a very long way to go to equal Rockford tax’s. Our rate is 14.27% on 1/3rd value. We were over 15%. Every $1 Million in value for a business pays $47,566.66. By these tax rates the Willis tower would pay over $47M almost double the tax’s now. The same rate applies to homes which there are only a few around $1M. The higher the tax’s and more will protest assessment and for those who win the appeal the loss of tax revenue for that property will be passed on to other taxpayers. This is the downside for PTELL… Read more »

Rick
4 years ago

She has room to raise property taxes, a nice bungalow in west lawn where I grew up still has incredibly low tax compared to any suburb. The house I grew up in only pays 2,300 a year. She could double the taxes on bungalows and still be below suburban rates.

world with end
4 years ago

For a number of Chicagoans, the average rate of annual property tax increases is significantly higher than the rate of their annual income increases. Eventually, even those who said they’d never relocate out of Chicago will do so.

willowglen
4 years ago
Reply to  world with end

The thing is, Lightfoot knows this (out migration), too. Property taxes are simply one of the few levels she can pull, absent radical reforms, something she is not capable of advocating for.

Truth in Cook County
4 years ago
Reply to  world with end

The real estate tax rate in Lake County is easily two times that of Chicago, and in many cases higher than that. Chicago needs to double their real estate taxes before asking the state for anything further. After all, the residents voted for this level of spending. Until the city does that, this is all just noisy talk. Time to wear the adult pants, city residents.

debtsor
4 years ago

Lake County is suffering too, in case you haven’t noticed. Empty store fronts, empty office buildings, vacant complex, languishing home sales, lower sales prices. Heck, you can buy a home on the north shore these days relatively cheap compared to years past. Population is declining, and would decline faster, if only there were enough greater fools to buy them out. There are not.

willowglen
4 years ago
Reply to  debtsor

I was raised in Lake County. I am surprised at how many homes are for sale in my village, and how the prices have been plummeting. We used to joke that the town had nothing to do, but that humor takes on a different cast in the midst of an economic dead pool. I was surprised at how little business activity there was on a Friday and Saturday night. Lake County could justify its higher taxes over the years because relative to Cook County, government services are better (admittedly a low bar). That justification is melting away. And there is… Read more »

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